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We wouldn’t need to build artificial brains if we could improve the ones we already have. Complex physical manipulations such as juggling produce major changes in white matter (basic structure) of our brains. Neurologists discovered this when they gave fMRI scans to people who were taught to juggle before and after their 6 week course.

BBC News quotes researcher Heidi Johansen-Berg as saying, “Of course, this doesn’t mean that everyone should go out and start juggling to improve their brains. We chose juggling purely as a complex new skill for people to learn.”
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In order to avoid the flu, we should all wash our hands often. Birds do the equivalent of this by adding material to their nests that repels germs.

In LiveScience.com., Stephan Reebs reports that some birds add bits of strong-smelling plants, such as lavender or mint, to their nests. These may act as pesticides that protect the hatchlings from fleas and other insects.

We’re one of the first places on the internet that reported the truth, rather than hysteria, about the Swine Flu epidemic and told you what to do to protect yourself from it. If you want the truth at the edge, keep coming to unknowncountry.com. And if you don’t want us to expire (from insects or just from neglect), be sure to help us build a strong nest: Subscribe today!
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An asteroid passed between the earth and the moon on Friday, but NASA didn’t find out about it until Thursday (or if they did, they didn’t tell us). If it had impacted, it could have destroyed a major city. Maybe we’d get better information if some of our scientists were honest about what’s really going on out there.

Msn.com spotted a Twitter on Friday from a member of NASA’s Asteroid Watch Team that said, “That’s slightly closer than the orbit of our moon.” Our so-called Asteroid Watch Team isn’t doing much careful “watching!”
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Who would have thought that space science has the kind of secrets worth spying for? Stewart David Nozette, one of the NASA scientists who discovered that there is water on the moon, has been arrested as a spy for Israel, after being caught on videotape in an FBI “sting” operation. What kinds of secrets was he revealing?

Art credit: Dreamstime.com

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